The main points from the meeting of the Presidents of Russia and Belarus Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko:

- Lukashenko told Putin that the isolation of Kaliningrad by Lithuania is actually a declaration of war.

- Putin told Lukashenko that in Europe the Americans have 200 nuclear tactical ammunition in 6 NATO member countries, 257 aircraft have been prepared for their use.

- Within the next few months, the Russian Federation will transfer Iskander-M complexes to Minsk

Lukashenko asked Putin to help with a mirror response to NATO air flights with nuclear weapons near the borders of Belarus.
To which Putin said that so far there is no need to mirror the training flights of NATO aircraft with nuclear warheads.

Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, said that all issues on the Union State had been agreed upon.

With the start of a special military operation of the RF Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine, Warsaw openly began the acquirement of enterprises of the Ukrainian military industry.

The Polish military-political leadership has long been hatching plans to transfer part of the production facilities of various Ukrainian enterprises to its territory, and the military operation only made certain adjustments to the relocation plans.

Thus, the Kyiv regime, headed by Zelensky, accelerated the implementation of a joint project between the Polish military-industrial complex and "Motor Sich", which had been in preparation for about two years.

Polish gunsmiths have been cooperating with this plant for a long time and have concluded a number of contracts and agreements.

A branch of the Zaporozhye "Motor Sich" started working in Warsaw even earlier. Now, with the support of the Kyiv political elite, the plant's facilities are being deployed in Poland far from hostilities, which is planned to be completed by the end of July.

To localize the production lines of the enterprise in Poland, several sites are being considered, including the Mokre airfield near the settlement of Zamosc, 60 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Initially, the enterprise will employ about 400 specialists, 80% of whom will be evacuated workers of the "Motor Sich" plant. Then the staff of the plant will be expanded to 3 thousand people.

The company has already received the name - Helicopter Modernization Centre (Centrum Modernizacji Śmigłowców), according to the Polish portal defense24. pl. On its basis, a line for upgrading Mi-2 helicopters to the MSB-2 version, which was recently introduced in Poland, will be deployed.

According to DM-MSB Sales Director Zbigniew Dzyalovsky, these helicopters are already being supplied to the Ukrainian army and are ideal for wartime conditions.

In addition, since Soviet-made Mi-2s are already outdated, their modernization will make them modern world-class machines at a price 3–5 times lower than their counterparts.

Warsaw plans to use the defense-industrial potential of "Motor Sich" to modernize and enhance the capabilities of not only Mi-2 helicopters, but also Mi-8, Mi-17 and Mi-24 helicopters of Soviet and Russian production, including those in service with the Polish Army.

Given the huge number of these helicopters and their prevalence around the world, Poland has every chance to occupy this niche in the market, and especially in the context of sanctions against the Russian Federation.

In addition, Polish aircraft factories and "Motor Sich" have already prepared everything for the joint development of a new combat helicopter for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Sooner or later, these countries will have to buy dozens of combat helicopters to replace the same Mi-8, Mi-17 and Mi-24 that have exhausted their resources.

The contract signed by "Motor Sich" in the fall of 2021 with the Turkish company Baykar Makina for the supply of engines for the Bayraktar TB2 UAV should not be ignored.

The same Poland will become the first NATO member country to purchase Bayraktar TB2 combat drones from Turkey. In total, these will be 24 UAVs, the first of which will be at the disposal of the Polish army as early as 2022.

Obviously, Warsaw will not miss the chance to place the production of engines for UAVs in Poland.

It is worth recalling that the "Motor Sich" plant is one of the largest manufacturers of engines for aircraft. Among the main products of the plant were engines for the Be-200 amphibious aircraft, Mi and Ka helicopters, including Ka-62, Ka-52, Mi-17, Mi-24M, Mi-28 and Ansat ”, military transport aircraft An-70, An-124 Ruslan and An-225 Mriya, combat training aircraft Yak-130 and others.

There are two helicopter manufacturers in Poland - PZL Mielec and PZL Swidnik. PZL Mielec assembles S-70i Black Hawk helicopters from imported parts. PZL Swidnik produces SW-4 light helicopters and W-3PL Gluszec medium multipurpose combat helicopters for the military, based on the W-3A Sokol type. The W-3 family of Polish helicopters was created on the basis of the Mi-2.

But with the acquisition of the "Motor Sich" plant, the Poles plan to get away from the “screwdriver assembly” of foreign models and the production of long-obsolete helicopter models.

According to the Polish leadership, moving the production lines of the "Motor Sich" plant to Poland will strengthen the position of the national military-industrial complex and enter the world market, while displacing a number of Western European manufacturers from Germany and France.

The relocation of the Ukrainian military industry to Poland is not limited to the "Motor Sich" plant. Thanks to Zelensky, very soon the largest defence plants in Ukraine will become Polish.

Our Chinese subscribers may have noticed - yes, it is the same plant which was sold to Chinese investors, and later nationalised by Ukrainian government, robbing Chinese partners of billions of dollars of their investments. Now those investments (whatever is left of them) are heading to Poland.

Attention. Translated from Ukrainian channel:

Our source reports that the Office of the President is pleased with the “controlled terror” strategy by exploding officials, journalists, public figures in Kherson and other cities that are now under the control of the Russian Federation.
A closed meeting was held yesterday at Bankova, where the bombings in Kherson, Energodar and Melitopol were discussed, whose goal is to intimidate the local political and business elite, as well as keep the regions in constant fear. Losses were also voiced among these groups of terrorists, with a request to somehow reward those who had already been found and killed during the operation. They promised to return to this issue later.

Zelensky supported the continuation of this strategy, given that now the return of these territories is unlikely, therefore, this strategy of “controlled terror” should be further pursued.

As the source explains, everyone understands that it is unrealistic to take Kherson by military means, the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not have such forces, even local victories are not there now. However, not to let the Russians stabilize these regions - this SBU and GUR can be using a "controlled terror" campaign for.

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Briefing of the Russian Defense Ministry. The main news:

The territory of the Azot plant is completely controlled by the troops of the People's Militia of the LPR.

The entire left-bank territory of the Seversky Donets within the borders of the LPR came under the control of the People's Militia of the LPR.

The units of the People's Militia of the LPR, with the support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, completely liberated Severodonetsk, Borovskoye, Voronovo and Sirotino of the LPR.

Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Anna Malyar said that due to premature publications about the withdrawal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Severodonetsk, the operation was disrupted.

According to an official from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, “these publications made on social networks simply did not allow the troops to complete what was planned in Severodonetsk.” 🥵💤

◾When the Russian Special Operation in Ukraine will end?

@ScottRitter.

Ukrainian forces are retreating from Lisichansk under fire and suffering heavy losses.

Attention. Translated from Ukrainian channel:

Our source in the OP (Ukrainian Office of President) said that the Office of the President did not give the order to withdraw from Zolotoe in time, and the AFU grouping near Ray-Aleksandrovka and Loskutovka withdrew on their own under the pressure of Russian troops. According to the General Staff, up to 1,000 soldiers of the Ukrainian army are now surrounded, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine are not able to organize a breakthrough of the encirclement.

Our source in the OP said that Zaluzhny told Zelensky about the impossibility of withdrawing the AFU grouping from Lisichansk without loss, the situation is critical and close to encirclement. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine accused the political centre of influence of delaying orders to withdraw troops to Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, the mediocre command of the showmen led to the fact that the best units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were deliberately ruined for the " TV picture". The manipulation of the slogan: “Save our people on the Azot” led to the fact that a group of 8,000 people and 700 pieces of equipment were surrounded.

Our source in the OP said that this morning one column of vehicles tried to break through from Lisichansk to Bakhmut, but was completely destroyed by Russian aircraft and artillery. Troops can be withdrawn from Lisichansk without loss only in small groups, and heavy equipment must be destroyed so that it does not fall into the hands of the enemy.

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Volunteers from Ural arrived in Donbass to fight the Nazis

With the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine, a large number of reserve servicemen practically besieged military registration and enlistment offices with a request to send them to the defence of Donbass. There were so many applicants that the candidates were selected. Despite the fact that all of them are predominantly combatants in various hot spots and have extensive military experience, training was carried out with the new units. Now the volunteers have arrived in Donbass and are ready to fight Ukrainian terrorists.

Does it sound like a lack of confidence? "When we know that the enemy will not succeed anyway, when we understand that we can still protect our state, but we do not feel the time limits of this, we do not feel how many more blows, losses and efforts will be before we see that victory is already on our horizon."

However, content does not matter. The very look is priceless...🤢

Russian forces are gaining an advantage in eastern Ukraine as they learn from mistakes made during the earlier stages of their invasion of the country, including better coordinating air and ground attacks and improving logistics and supply lines, two US officials with direct knowledge of US intelligence assessments told CNN.

The US does not expect new weapons systems recently supplied to Ukrainian forces, including the HIMARS multiple rocket launch system, to immediately change the situation on the battlefield in part because those systems are so far being sent with both a limited range and a limited number of rockets to ensure they are not fired into Russian territory. Additionally, Russian forces have been able to destroy some of the new Western-supplied weapons, including M777 howitzers, in targeted attacks.
...
"Putin is not deterred and I don't think he will ever be deterred," Rep. Mike Quigley, a Democrat from Illinois who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN. "This war could last years," he added.

At home, US and NATO partners are beginning to see the limits of their own supplies of certain advanced weapons, including shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles. These weapons systems have their own complicated supply lines, meaning it could take years to replace the thousands of such missiles already supplied to Ukrainian forces.

More weapons to Ukraine - more casualties on both sides; more profits for arms manufacturers.

M777 howitzers were used for shelling civilians in Donetsk. There is a recent report about the first use of HIMARS system: a military hospital was hit, several wounded and two killed...

For a moment in time, it looked as if reality had managed to finally carve its way through the dense fog of propaganda-driven misinformation that had dominated Western media coverage of Russia’s “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine.

In a stunning admission, Oleksandr Danylyuk, a former senior adviser to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and Intelligence Services, noted that the optimism that existed in Ukraine following Russia’s decision to terminate “Phase One” of the SMO (a major military feint toward Kiev), and begin “Phase Two” (the liberation of the Donbass), was no longer warranted. “The strategies and tactics of the Russians are completely different right now,” Danylyuk noted. “They are being much more successful. They have more resources than us and they are not in a rush.”

“There’s much less space for optimism right now,” Danylyuk concluded.

In short, Russia was winning.

Danylyuk’s conclusions were not derived from some esoteric analysis drawn from Sun Tzu or Clausewitz, but rather basic military math. In a war that had become increasingly dominated by the role of artillery, Russia simply was able to bring to bear on the battlefield more firepower than Ukraine.

French self-propelled howitzers "Caesar" in Ukraine

France transferred the first division of unique self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine back in April, when the vast majority of Ukrainian guns of this type were destroyed by the Russian army. At first, six guns seemed to be a good help, especially against the background of the destroyed Msta-S self-propelled guns and other field artillery guns. However, the first combat use of the "Caesars" took place only a month after their arrival in Ukraine. The problem turned out to be where it was least expected - the French from Thales (manufacturer of electronics for the self-propelled complex) changed the entire composition of the equipment. Instead of the latest digital fire control system (similar to the one that was supposed to be supplied from the USA with M777 guns), the Caesar was equipped with a previous generation system developed back in 1983.

The French took this step after listening to their colleagues from the German Bundeswehr. According to the Germans, they carried out such "downgrading" with PzH-2000 self-propelled howitzers before sending the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The reason turned out to be simple: the German military "peeped" the idea of "zeroing" military equipment from the United States. The Americans did not send modern guns to Ukraine and equipped their howitzers with laser rangefinder guidance, which the Ukrainian artillerymen also could not figure out.

As a result, the declared firing range of the American M777 in Ukraine was only 12 kilometres, and the range of the Caesars in good weather and in the absence of Russian aviation in the air was not 46 kilometres, as officially reported, but less than 20. At the same time, the French did not put in a kit with "Caesars" neither satellite navigation, nor ballistic computers, which facilitate the preparation for the shot. In fact, due to fears of a technology leak, the guns were delivered to Ukraine "naked" and could not be used for their intended purpose.

According to Life's sources participating in a special operation in Ukraine, as by the instructions, the Caesars should be used as part of an artillery battalion, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine divided the delivery into two parts. Three guns were sent to the northern directions, probably near Severodonetsk. Three more - to the east near Avdiivka, from where they fired at the city with 155-mm NATO shells. Partially, the fire of the "Caesars" from camouflaged positions near Avdiivka was suppressed with the help of aviation, but the story of the French self-propelled guns sent to the northwest is much more interesting.

According to some reports, the Caesars could end up in Liman due to the fact that the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost the vast majority of the Polish Crab self-propelled guns. These guns covered the retreat of the Ukrainian army from Severodonetsk, however, at a certain moment, the RF Armed Forces actually cut a large formation in two. The part that turned out to be to the west was able to retreat, and the eastern group, armed, among other things, with French Caesars, was squeezed by the Russian military in a ring.

The Ukrainian artillerymen were let down by their own carelessness. The French "Caesars" were used one at a time, and instead of constantly changing the location of the guns, they were stored in one place and advanced to positions a couple of times a day. Volley fire by the NATO super-howitzers was also not used - the crews fired five to eight shells and then hid the equipment in the nearest hangars or cowsheds. The equipment was spotted from the air during a reconnaissance sortie - an Orlan drone with a thermal imager transmitted a picture to the nearest intelligence unit, and a night raid was organized on the positions of the Ukrainian military in Liman.

After a short skirmish between the Russian reconnaissance group and the artillerymen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine remaining on duty, one howitzer was destroyed, two more were captured in a fully operational condition - with ammunition and an officer of the Ukrainian army, who was trained at the base of the 3rd artillery regiment in French Canjue.

From a technological point of view, capturing the Caesars in the Donbass will reveal a lot about the composition of the metals and electronics used for firing. This could speed up work on its own artillery systems and give the Russian defence industry an effective tool to counter NATO weapons in future conflicts, wherever they occur.

From French source: "That was to be expected. Two of the 8 French CAESAR guns delivered to Ukraine ended up in Russian hands and are currently being examined from every angle at the Uralvagonzavod Defence Plant (which, as its name suggests, manufactures railway wagons , but also a lot of defence equipment).

Delivering state-of-the-art guns to Ukraine had caused French senior officers to break out in a cold sweat, given the risk of loss of advanced equipment by the Ukrainian army and the very strong corruption that reigns there - it is not impossible that these guns were simply sold - but the political echelon prevailed and these guns were delivered, while 40 Ukrainian gunners were trained in Canjuers."

French and Ukrainian authorities predictably denied the capturing of the howitzers, so, whether, it actually did occur - we will learn much later, if ever. However, what is a fact beyond doubt - that is no weapon supply can change the outcome of the operation, and all "Wunderwaffe" (German for "wonder-weapon" and was a term assigned during World War II by Nazi Germany's propaganda ministry to some revolutionary "superweapons") can be captured, destroyed or smuggled, sadly causing more death and destruction.

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